<p>
If I recall, that was during O-week, when non-freshmen who are not involved with O-week are not allowed back on campus.</p>
<p>
People at Rice are apathetic about everything. Reports suggest that the value of the radio transmission equipment and license could have been valued at upwards of $15m and many accounts (especially from industry) suggest that Rice sold it for cheap.</p>
<p>Apart from that, when you’re an organization handling so much money (as Rice is), you have budgets for everything. You don’t just have one large pool of money that everything gets paid from. Dhruv, you should know this since you’ve been pretty active in several different clubs at Rice. The HVAC renovation needs to be paid from the same budget that it was approved from (the buildings budget or whatever–I’m not intimate with the details of it all).</p>
<p>If you spend too much money, especially in the middle of a recession, then you obviously have to cutback. The administration could have delayed the construction of the servery–it’s not as if there’s ever a time at Rice when a new building isn’t being built.</p>
<p>And Dhruv, since you’re obsessed with numbers, here are some for you:</p>
<p>Rice’s endowment was $3.6bn in early 2009 ([Rice</a> changes budget - News](<a href=“http://media.www.ricethresher.org/media/storage/paper1290/news/2009/02/06/News/Rice-Changes.Budget-3615546.shtml]Rice”>http://media.www.ricethresher.org/media/storage/paper1290/news/2009/02/06/News/Rice-Changes.Budget-3615546.shtml))
The $9.5mn gained from this sale comprises 0.03% of Rice’s endowment.
Based on the 2009 budget, this sale relieves 2% of their budgeted costs.
In 2008, Rice received $42m in donor gifts ([Rice</a> endowment decreases $60 million - News](<a href=“http://media.www.ricethresher.org/media/storage/paper1290/news/2008/09/26/News/Rice-Endowment.Decreases.60.Million-3453734.shtml]Rice”>http://media.www.ricethresher.org/media/storage/paper1290/news/2008/09/26/News/Rice-Endowment.Decreases.60.Million-3453734.shtml))
In 2004, McKinsey reported that the Rice football program was losing $10m a year ([An</a> Open Letter to Rice University President David Leebron NONALIGNMENT PACT](<a href=“http://www.nonalignmentpact.com/2010/08/an-open-letter-to-rice-university-president-david-leebron.html]An”>http://www.nonalignmentpact.com/2010/08/an-open-letter-to-rice-university-president-david-leebron.html))</p>
<p>Unfortunately, Rice has not published any numbers as to how much operating the KTRU station cost them. Why? Because they have decided to do all of this in secret. If the administration put forth a strong argument, most alumni who have been complaining wouldn’t have been. Those who are currently supporting KTRU would have a clearer picture of how much money is going down the drain and they would have modified programming/leased out airtime to help the situation.</p>
<p>Basically, if the administration had worked this through the same open process that they proffered through the V2C and C2C, they would have come to the same conclusion in all likelihood (that KTRU was an “underutilized asset”) but they would have done so while demonstrating to the community why that was so. Instead, they’ve done everything in secret without any accountability, so it’s hardly surprising that people are ****ed off.</p>